


Masquerade

by phoenixwaller



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Costume Parties & Masquerades, Curse Breaking, Curses, Falling In Love, Haunted Houses, Hints of other characters, M/M, Party, Soft Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 10:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16490510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixwaller/pseuds/phoenixwaller
Summary: Yuri Katsuki receives a strange invitation to a masquerade ball at the local haunted house, and allows Phichit to talk him into attending. But as they arrive strange things start happening.Will they be able to escape the house, and who is the alluring host?





	Masquerade

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated Halloween!
> 
> This post was originally a concept for a zine, but alas it was not to be, so I wrote it as a spooky treat instead. 
> 
> If you enjoy this work please click the share button up above and spread the love. 
> 
> Happy Reading!

A kick at the door, and Yuri jumped off the couch. He stumbled over and opened it to Phichit carrying a pizza in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. 

Yuri took the pizza and held the door open for Phichit to shuffle through. 

“Thanks,” Phichit said, walking over to the table and setting the bag on it. 

“Pizza Phich? Really?” Yuri asked, opening the lid to see glistening pepperoni. He moaned, knowing the other man had honed in on his weakness. “We’re supposed to be on a diet you know.”

Phichit laughed. “Yuri, the season ended last month. You can afford to be naughty.”

Yuri sighed and opened the box a bit more to get a whiff of the forbidden treat. 

The sound of something sliding and landing on the floor. 

Yuri blinked and looked to see a black envelope on the floor. 

“What’s that?” Yuri asked. 

Phichit glanced over. “Oh, the super gave that to me. Apparently he found it in the lobby.”

Yuri braced the pizza box with one hand as he knelt to pick up the envelope. He turned it over and blinked when he saw his own name in gold calligraphy on the front, but no return address or stamps. 

“Maybe it’s fan mail,” Phichit said from where he was putting groceries in the fridge. 

“If it is, we’re moving,” Yuri replied, carrying the envelope and pizza to the table. 

Phichit laughed and grabbed a couple of paper plates. He handed one over and each took a slice of pizza before sitting. “Well? Are you going to open it?”

Yuri groaned and wiped his hands on a napkin before grabbing the envelope. He untucked the flap and pulled an ornate black and purple card free. In the same gold calligraphy were the words ‘You’re invited…”

Phichit had moved over to stare over Yuri’s shoulders. “A party invite?”

Yuri opened the card. 

_ Dear Mr. Katsuki,  _

_ You’re formally invited to a once in a lifetime event. The caretakers of the Nikiforov Mansion are hosting their invite-only Blue Moon Ball, and your name was selected as a guest of honor. The ball this year is a masquerade, and all are encouraged to arrive in costume. You are allowed one guest.  _

_ No RSVP is required.  _

_ Date: October 31, 2020 _ _   
_ _ Time: 7:30 PM _

_ We look forward to seeing you.  _

_ ~V. Nikiforov _

Yuri tossed the card to the side of the table with a huff. “Real funny…”

“What? You’re not interested?” Phichit asked, picking up the card. 

“Pfft. Everybody knows that house has been abandoned for decades, and is supposedly haunted. This is obviously somebody’s idea of a joke.”

Phichit rolled his eyes. “Maybe not. The house may seem abandoned from the grounds, but the building is always in good condition. Maybe the caretakers do throw an occasional party there.”

“Sure, yeah, whatever.”

Phichit leaned forward on his elbows. “Come on Yuri, let’s go!”

“Why, so whoever is pulling our legs can have a good laugh?”

“So that we can do something other than hand out candy to the building’s kids on Halloween.”

“Weren’t you invited to another party already?” Yuri asked. 

Phichit scowled. “Yeah, but this sounds cooler. A Halloween party in a haunted house.”

Yuri took another bite of pizza. “Count me out.”

Phichit clutched the invitation, and looked at Yuri in the same way Vicchan looked at him when he was hoping for table scraps. “Pleeeeeease.”

Yuri sighed. “Really Phichit?”

“Yes really! This sounds fun!”

Yuri sighed again. “Fine… but you’re in charge of the costumes.”

Phichit squealed with delight. “You’re gonna look amazing, I promise!”

* * *

 

Yuri held up the feathered red and black mask, wondering how Phichit had managed to get one that worked with his glasses so well. He turned, facing the mirror, watching as the red lining of his half-cape caught the light. Underneath a bodice of black and mesh showed off his muscles, and hie black slacks had red inset panels that flared as he moved. 

“So… what am I again?” Yuri asked, twisting again to see a flash of red. 

“Eros,” Phichit hummed, seemingly pleased. “Lust personified.”

Yuri groaned. “That’s the cheesiest costume idea yet Phich.”

“Don’t knock it. I promised you’d look amazing didn’t I?”

Yuri rolled his eyes and turned to note how the trousers clung to his ass. “Fine. But what are you?”

Phichit grinned and showed off his red and gold outfit. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Yuri sighed. “I should have known… the King and the Skater.”

Phichit grinned, then jumped as his cell phone buzzed with a notification. “The Uber is here. Let’s go!”

Yuri grabbed his phone and keys, shoving them into his pockets as he followed Phichit out of their building and into the waiting car. Soon they were standing on the steps of the abandoned mansion, watching the car drive away. 

“There are no cars here Phichit,” Yuri pointed out, waving at the overgrown yard. 

“They probably all came by Uber too!”

Yuri sighed. “If this is a prank you’re doing dishes for a month.”

Phichit sighed. “Let’s go in…”

Yuri climbed the remaining steps and clasped the handle of the door, expecting it to be locked, but it turned easily and the door swung inward on squeaky hinges. 

“Hello?” Yuri asked as he took a cautious step inside. His voice echoed through the foyer. 

A hand on his back, and Yuri jumped, spinning to see Phichit behind him. “Phich, don’t scare me like that.”

“You knew I was here,” Phichit laughed. He frowned. “Nobody here…”

Both of them jumped when the door slammed shut behind them. 

“Hello?” Yuri called again as they took another step. 

The creak of a door on their right. Yuri turned to see a room with a roaring fire and two armchairs. 

“Um…”

“Looks like an invitation,” Phichit said as he strode toward the chairs. 

Yuri sighed and followed. 

“There’s a note!” Phichit called as he reached the chairs. “Come in and warm yourself by the fire. The masquerade will begin soon.”

Yuri ran his fingers over the rich leather, and suddenly wanted nothing more than to sit for a few minutes. He looked to see Phichit already sitting. 

Yuri yawned as he sat, enjoying the plush feel of the chair. “I guess we can give them a few minutes.”

Phichit nodded and yawned. “The fire feels so nice.”

“Mm-hmm…”

Yuri’s eyes drooped. 

* * *

 

Laughter echoed through the room, the sounds of clinking glasses and music. Yuri blinked his eyes open. The fire was still roaring, people in intricate costumes gathered near it. 

He sat up with a start and looked around. The other chair was empty. “Nice of Phichit to wake me up too,” he grumbled as he stood. 

A whirlwind of color surrounded Yuri; masks, gowns, feathers and sequins as people mingled and danced. He looked around and found a refreshment table to one side of the room. He picked up a glass of champagne, then noticed an ornate sign to one side. 

_ A night of fun and revelry,  _

_ Filled with warmth and camaraderie,  _

_ Yet for you I must portend,  _

_ Drink 13 and the night will never end.  _

Yuri blinked and looked at the tray of filled glasses. “What is that supposed to mean?” he muttered as he took a sip. 

He turned and looked at the sea of swirling masks and fabric, but didn’t see the distinctive red and gold of Phichit’s costume in the mass of people. 

A hand was held out to him, the man wearing a tight outfit of swirling blues, purples and blacks with sequins dusting the shoulders. “May I have this dance?” he asked, voice curling around a French accent. 

Yuri swallowed and allowed himself to be led to the dance floor, where the man immediately spun Yuri into a heated dance. 

“Wh… what are you supposed to be?” Yuri asked, noticing tiny faces decorating the man’s mask, each one in expressions of pleasure. Two-tones hair peeked out from behind it. Something seemed familiar about the man, but Yuri couldn’t put a finger on it. 

“Ah, I am the intoxication of lust, thick and wanting in the depths of the night,” the man said with a smile. “And what are you this glorious evening?”

Yuri laughed. “I’m Eros.”

The man laughed. “It’s a pleasure Eros.”

Yuri smiled as he was led through the dance, and into the next. Then he excused himself to take another drink. 

“Where’s Phichit?” he muttered, looking around. 

A teen with blond hair and a costume reminiscent of a tiger stalked up to the table and grabbed a plate of fruit and cheese. He glared at Yuri. 

Yuri swallowed, wondering what he’d done. “Um… hi?”

“Tch,” the teen snapped. “I don’t see what makes  _ you _ so special.”

“What?” Yuri blinked. 

The teen snarled. “Some guest of honor you are… you’ll end up just like the rest.”

“Wait… what?”

“Yura,” a man in a silver cape said, draping himself over the teen’s shoulder said, “be polite now.”

“Get off me old man!” the teen snarled before stalking off. 

“I… What was that about?” Yuri asked, admiring the way the costume of the silver-haired stranger immediately made him think of mid-winter ice. 

The man smiled. “Shall we dance?” he asked instead of answering. 

Yuri looked at the outstretched hand, and felt a pull toward the man. He took it gently. “Ok…” 

The man’s smile lit up the room like a full moon at midnight lit up a landscape, and he was swirled to the dance floor once more. “I’m Victor,” the man said. 

“Yuri,” he replied with a smile. 

Yuri felt the worry drain from him as he danced with Victor. Conversation flowed easily between them as they switched lead and follow from one dance to the next. The arms encircling him were more like home than he’d ever felt before, and the gentle blue eyes behind the silver mask looked at Yuri with adoration. 

And Yuri felt himself responding, wanting to be closer to him the longer they danced. 

But there remained a nagging feeling at the back of his mind, as Phichit still seemed out of sight. 

“Have you seen my friend?” Yuri finally asked. “He was wearing a red and gold costume, and I haven’t seen him since we arrived.”

Victor’s smile faltered for the first time since they had started dancing. “I haven’t.”

Yuri bit his lip as he stepped from his embrace. “I… I’m sorry, but I should probably find him.”

“Wait… Yuri,” Victor called as Yuri stepped away. 

Yuri snagged another glass of champagne from the table as he started weaving through the crowds. “Phichit?”

No reply, though Yuri wondered if he’d be able to hear anything over the din of the party. 

Another glass of champagne as he made his way upstairs, where more people mingled. “Phichit?”

Curious glances as Yuri called out, and he drained another glass, anxiety over his missing friend crawling through him. 

A ballroom, another lounge, the vast library, each one crowded with people. Yuri looked, and he drank, the alcohol numbing his mounting nerves. 

Yuri finally found Phichit in the room with the fire, flirting with the man who called himself the intoxication of lust. 

“Phichit!” Yuri sighed, draping himself over his friend. “Thank goodness! I was looking everywhere for you.”

Phichit turned to him, a confused look on his face. “Do I know you?”

Yuri stood and blinked. “Phich, it’s me.”

Phichit stared. “I’m sorry, but have we met before?”

Yuri took a step back. “Phichit… we’ve been roommates for years…”

Phichit’s expression of confusion deepened. “I’m sorry… I don’t…”

“Come beautiful,” the other man said. “Let’s dance.”

Phichit immediately smiled as he was swirled onto the dance floor. “Yes! Dance!”

Yuri’s jaw hung slack. He moved to rest against the wall and rand his hand over his hair. “Even when he’s drunk… he’s never forgotten…”

Yuri swiped another glass from the table and downed it. “I should call an Uber, get us a ride home…”

Yuri took another glass as he pulled his phone free and strode toward the foyer. “Damn… no signal.” He drained the champagne and set the empty glass on a table. He tried the door, but it refused to open. 

“I’m locked in?”

“Come! Party!” A woman with red hair called as she pulled him away from the door. 

Yuri shrugged out of her grip, nerves mounting again. 

“Yes! Dance with us!” said another woman with long black hair and violet eyes. 

“Sorry…” Yuri said, waling back to the room with the drinks. 

“What’s going on here?” he muttered, draining a glass and reaching for another. He finished it off, walked to the window, but returned when he phone stubbornly refused to find a signal. 

Yuri took another look around, and grabbed another glass. He drained it, and set his nerves. “We’re leaving, whether we’re walking or have to break down the door. I’m getting Phichit out of here.”

Yuri grabbed another glass, and raised it to his lips. 

“Stop!”

The room froze as the command echoed, swishes of fabric as people turned to look at the source. People parted, and Victor stood on the other side of the room, eyes wide and on Yuri. 

“Victor?” Yuri asked. 

“Don’t drink that!” Victor commanded. 

“But…”

“That’s your thirteenth glass!” Victor yelled, taking several steps through the corridor of people. 

Yuri blinked. “So?”

Victor ran forward, knocking the glass from Yuri’s fingers. It shattered on the floor. 

“Victor?”

Victor draped himself over Yuri. “I can’t… not you.”

“What are you…?”

Victor stood and used one arm to sweep across the room. 

Yuri’s eyes widened. The party disappeared. In its place the floor was littered with bodies, age and cobwebs replacing the formerly pristine house. Soft blue sunlight filtered through the grime on the windows. The fire had burned down to embers, and Phichit was collapsed at the far end of the room. 

“I… I can’t have you end up like them…” Victor said, moving to block Yuri’s view. He ran his fingers along Yuri’s face under the mask. “Not you.”

“Victor?” Yuri asked. 

A tear slid out from under Victor’s mask. He reached up and pulled it off. Yuri’s heart leapt into his throat at Victor’s beauty. 

He pressed the mask into yuri’s hands. “A century ago I was known as the king of ice,” Victor said softly. “Though I greeted all with open arms, the warmth of my smiles never reached my eyes. I never let down my masks, and I was cursed for it. It was during a blue moon party, just like this, that it happened. A man scorned by his lover, who was trying for my affections, saw through my indifference for her attentions. And so it was that until I met the person who could thaw my heart, and make me remove my mask, that a ball would be held every blue moon. Those invited who lost themselves were doomed to stay, just as your friend there was, and their memories scoured for the next person to invite.”

Victor shook his head, tears in his eyes. “But not you. I can’t see you cursed like that.” He leaned in and kissed Yuri softly. 

Yuri gasped, then leaned into the kiss, wanting more. Then it was over. 

Yuri clenched the mask in his fingers. “Phichit… I… I can’t just leave him like this…”

Victor’s hand son his shoulders. “Take my mask. You’ll find me slumbering in the master bedroom. Place it upon me to end the spell. Your friend will awaken, along with everybody here.”

“Really?”

Victor nodded. “Yuri?”

“Y… yes?”

“Will you stay, even after your friend awakens?”

“Wh… what do you mean?”

“You’re the only person to get me to remove my mask, and I never want to put it on again. I’m asking you to stay by my side, and never leave.”

Victor bit his lip, and Yuri stood on his toes to kiss him again. “I should say no, after all, you cursed my friend. But this doesn’t feel like a curse. This feels right.”

Victor smiled at him, then disappeared. 

Yuri blinked, and looked down at the mask still in his hands. He gazed out over the people, many covered in a thin layer of dust. He turned and looked up the grand staircase. 

Yuri weaved through the people littering the floor, and up the stairs. Every noise echoed in the quiet house, and even his footfalls seemed like booming sounds. 

The hallway stretched long before him, dim and dusty. Yuri’s fingers tightened on the mask as he made his way forward and into the grand master bedroom. 

The room reminded Yuri of Victor’s costume, silvers and blues. Then his eyes fell on Victor, and the silver hair fanned around his face. 

Yuri’s breath caught again. The real Victor was even more beautiful than his illusion had been. 

He took a seat at the edge of the bed and reached out, fingers dancing over warm skin. 

Yuri looked at the masks in his free hand, then shifted. He gently placed it upon Victor’s face. 

The mask disappeared. 

Victor’s eyes opened, and a soft smile crept over his face. 

Yuri waited. 

“Thank you Yuri,” Victor croaked, voice hoarse from disuse. “You freed me… you freed us all.”

Yuri could make out the sounds of groans and movements from the hall. He helped Victor to sit up. He brushed the strands of long silver hair from in front of his face, and was rewarded with a larger smile. 

Yuri couldn’t help himself as he leaned in for another kiss. 

* * *

“Yuri!” Phichit cried, a blur of red and gold as he bolted across the foyer to the staircase. “What happened? I was…”

Phichit stopped short, noticing how Yuri’s arm was loped around Victor’s waist, helping him down the stairs. “Yuri?”

Yuri smiled, holding onto Victor as they reached the ground floor. 

“Friends,” Victor said, voice booming, “what has happened to you all brings me great sadness. I know I cannot ever do enough to ask for forgiveness for the time that I’ve stolen from you all. But please, allow me to offer my deepest apologies as you reclaim the remnants of your lives.”

Yuri’s arm tightened. 

“I sincerely hope that your new lives bring you joy for the years you have lost to this house.”

Murmurs as people began to talk amongst themselves. 

“Yuri,” Phichit said, coming close. “What happened? We were near the fire, then I woke up on the floor with Chris’s arms around me.”

Yuri blinked. “Wait… Chris? The one you’d started dating before he disappeared more than two years ago?”

Phichit nodded. “Yeah, the one I thought ghosted on me before we realized he’d legit gone missing!”

Yuri realized why he’d seemed familiar. 

“Yuri…” Phichit whined. “What happened?”

Yuri shook his head and looked up at Victor. “I think, it’s going to be a long story.”

Victor smiled. “Yes, but the best news is that it’s over now.”

Yuri laughed and pulled him in for another kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate any comments, kudos or shares. 
> 
> Head over to tumblr and yell at me about Yuri On Ice at [phoenixwaller.tumblr.com](http://phoenixwaller.tumblr.com)
> 
> Find my other YoI fanfics on my AO3 profile at <http://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixwaller/profile>


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